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Webster 1913 Edition

Hail

Hail

(hāl)
,
Noun.
[OE.
hail
,
haȝel
, AS.
hægel
,
hagol
; akin to D., G., Dan., & Sw.
hagel
; Icel.
hagl
; cf. Gr.
κάχληξ
pebble.]
Small roundish masses of ice precipitated from the clouds, where they are formed by the congelation of vapor. The separate masses or grains are called
hailstones
.
Thunder mixed with
hail
,
Hail
mixed with fire, must rend the Egyptian sky.
Milton.

Hail

,
Verb.
I.
[
imp. & p. p.
Hailed
(hāld)
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Hailing
.]
[OE.
hailen
, AS.
hagalian
.]
To pour down particles of ice, or frozen vapors.

Hail

,
Verb.
T.
To pour forcibly down, as hail.
Shak.

Hail

,
Adj.
Healthy. See
Hale
(the preferable spelling).

Hail

,
Verb.
T.
[OE.
hailen
,
heilen
, Icel.
heill
hale, sound, used in greeting. See
Hale
sound.]
1.
To call loudly to, or after; to accost; to salute; to address.
2.
To name; to designate; to call.
And such a son as all men
hailed
me happy.
Milton.

Hail

,
Verb.
I.
1.
To declare, by hailing, the port from which a vessel sails or where she is registered; hence, to sail; to come; – used with from;
as, the steamer
hails
from New York
.
2.
To report as one’s home or the place from whence one comes; to come; – with
from
.
[Colloq.]
C. G. Halpine.

Hail

,
int
erj.
[See
Hail
,
Verb.
T.
]
An exclamation of respectful or reverent salutation, or, occasionally, of familiar greeting.
“Hail, brave friend.”
Shak.
All hail
.
See in the Vocabulary.
–
Hail Mary
,
a form of prayer made use of in the Roman Catholic Church in invocation of the Virgin. See
Ave Maria
.

Hail

,
Noun.
A wish of health; a salutation; a loud call.
“Their puissant hail.”
M. Arnold.
The angel
hail
bestowed.
Milton.

Webster 1828 Edition

Hail

HAIL

,
Noun.
Masses of ice or frozen vapor, falling from the clouds in showers or storms. These masses consist of little spherules united, but not all of the same consistence; some being as hard and solid as perfect ice; others soft, like frozen snow. Hailstones assume various figures; some are round, others angular, others pyramidical, others flat, and sometimes they are stellated with six radii, like crystals of snow.

HAIL

,
Verb.
I.
To pour down masses of ice or frozen vapors.

HAIL

,
Verb.
T.
To pour.

HAIL

,
Adj.
[Gr. whole.] Sound; whole; healthy; not impaired by disease; as a hail body; hail corn. [In this sense, it is usually written hale.]

HAIL

, an exclamation, or rather a verb in the imperative mode, being the adjective hail, used as a verb. Hail, be well; be in health; health to you; a term of salutation, equivalent to L. salve, salvete.
Hail, hail, brave friend.

HAIL

,
Noun.
A wish of health; a salutation. This word is sometimes used as a noun; as, the angel hail bestowed.

HAIL

,
Verb.
T.
[L. calo. See Call and Heal.] To call; to call to a person at a distance, to arrest his attention. It is properly used in any case where the person accosted is distant, but is appropriately used by seamen. Hoa or hoi, the ship ahoay, is the usual manner of hailing; to which the answer is holloa, or hollo. Then follow the usual questions, whence came ye? where are you bound? &c.

Definition 2024

hail

hail

English

Noun

hail ‎(uncountable)

  1. Balls or pieces of ice falling as precipitation, often in connection with a thunderstorm.
Derived terms
Translations

Verb

hail ‎(third-person singular simple present hails, present participle hailing, simple past and past participle hailed)

  1. (impersonal) Said of the weather when hail is falling.
    They say it's going to hail tomorrow.
  2. (transitive) to send or release hail
    The cloud would hail down furiously within a few minutes.
Translations

Etymology 2

The adjective hail is a variant of hale ‎(“health, safety”) (from the early 13th century). The transitive verb with the meaning "to salute" is also from the 13th century. The cognate verb heal is already Old English (hǣlan), from Proto-Germanic *hailijaną ‎(“to make healthy, whole, to heal”). Also cognate is whole, from Old English hāl (the spelling with wh- is unetymological, introduced in the 15th century).

Verb

hail ‎(third-person singular simple present hails, present participle hailing, simple past and past participle hailed)

  1. (transitive) to greet; give salutation to; salute.
  2. (transitive) To name; to designate; to call.
    • Milton
      And such a son as all men hailed me happy.
    He was hailed as a hero.
  3. (transitive) to call out loudly in order to gain the attention of
    Hail a taxi.
Derived terms
Translations

Adjective

hail ‎(comparative more hail, superlative most hail)

  1. (obsolete) Healthy, whole, safe.

Interjection

hail

  1. An exclamation of respectful or reverent salutation, or, occasionally, of familiar greeting.
    • Shakespeare
      Hail, brave friend.

Irish

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /halʲ/

Noun

hail

  1. h-prothesized form of ail

Scots

Etymology 1

From Old English hāl ‎(“healthy, safe”), from Proto-Germanic *hailaz ‎(“whole, safe, sound”), from Proto-Indo-European *kóh₂ilus ‎(“healthy, whole”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [hel]
  • (South Scots) IPA(key): [hjɛl]

Adjective

hail ‎(comparative hailer, superlative hailest)

  1. whole
  2. free or recovered from disease, healthy, wholesome
  3. (of people, parts of the body, etc.) free from injury, safe, sound, unhurt
  4. (of material objects and of time, numbers etc.) whole, entire, complete, sound, unbroken, undamaged
Derived terms

Noun

hail ‎(plural hails)

  1. the whole, the whole amount or number

Verb

hail ‎(third-person singular present hails, present participle hailin, past hailt, past participle hailt)

  1. to heal, cure

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [hel]

Verb

hail ‎(third-person singular present hails, present participle hailin, past hailt, past participle hailt)

  1. (sports) to drive the ball through the goal, etc.
Derived terms
  • ower hail ‎(“to overtake”)

Noun

hail ‎(plural hails)

  1. (sports) goal, the shout when a goal is scored, the goal area

Etymology 3

From Old English hæġl, hæġel, from Proto-Germanic *haglaz, either from Proto-Indo-European *kagʰlos ‎(“pebble”), or from *ḱoḱló-, a reduplication of *ḱel- ‎(“cold”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [hel]

Noun

hail ‎(uncountable)

  1. (weather) hail, hailstones
  2. small shot, pellets
Derived terms
  • hailie-pickle ‎(“hailstone”)
  • hailstane ‎(“hailstone”)

Welsh

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /hai̯l/

Adjective

hail

  1. h-prothesized form of ail

Mutation

Welsh mutation
radical soft nasal h-prothesis
ail unchanged unchanged hail
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every
possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Etymology

From Middle English haile, hail, from Old English hæġl, hæġel, from Proto-Germanic *haglaz (compare West Frisian heil, Low German Hagel, Dutch hagel, German Hagel, Danish hagl). Either from Proto-Indo-European *kagʰlos ‎(“pebble”), or from *ḱoḱló-, a reduplication of *ḱel- ‎(“cold”) (compare Old Norse héla ‎(“frost”)).

Root-cognates outside of Germanic include Welsh caill ‎(“testicle”), Breton kell ‎(“testicle”), Lithuanian šešėlis ‎(“shade, shadow”), Ancient Greek κάχληξ ‎(kákhlēx, “pebble”), Albanian çakëll ‎(“pebble”), Sanskrit शिशिर ‎(śíśira, “cool, cold”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /heɪl/
  • Rhymes: -eɪl
  • Homophone: hale

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